Eddy Wauters was born in Borgerhout on July 12, 1933 and started his career on the Bosuil as a football player. Between 1952 and 1965 he defended the red-white colors from the flank. He was also four times Red Devil.
But it is as chairman that Wauters wrote history at Antwerp History. From 1969 to 2012 he was at the helm. On 12 May 1993 he experienced one of the highlights with the club: Antwerp played the final in the European Cup for cup winners. It lost 1-3 to Wembley from the Italian Parma AC, but the party was complete. It would be discussed for decades among supporters.
Wauters was known by friend and foe as a particularly intelligent man, but he was also stubborn, quirky and cunning. The negotiations he conducted with his football players were hard. More than once, a player dismissed the doors of the Bosuil behind him.
Marilyn Monroe
The estate of Eddy Wauters will always remain double. For one supporter of the Great Old he was the man who gave Antwerp many successes. For the others, he was responsible for the financial problems that the club brought to second class and on the edge of the bankruptcy. Wauters was voted out in 2012 after a legal dispute.
They were captivating images: Wauters who walked over the cobblestones of the old main stand of the Bosuil, briefcase in hand. “Nothing will last in life,” he told the collected press. “Has 42 years not been enough? I am relieved of a burden. ”
-“Eddy Wauters has done good things for Antwerp,” responds Jan Michel, former counselor of Wauters and the chairman who succeeded him. “But his last years were disastrous. Under his leadership, Antwerp had built up a debt of 25 million euros. I was happy then that we played an away game, then the bailiffs let me feel free to. Afterwards he also continued to make it difficult for the club by constantly challenging the license. I never understood why he did that. “
Wauters was also a barrel full of anecdotes. In 1957 he studied and played football in the United States. He was called up for a farewell match and met actress Marilyn Monroe. “The following weeks she called me,” Wauters said about it decades later Gazet van Antwerpen. “Hi Eddy, it’s Marilyn. How are you doing? With that hoarse and silent voice, she thanked me for the nice meeting and asked how I was doing. ”
Wauters also made a career in business. He was chairman of the Kredietbank (later KBC) for three years. In 1984 he was accused of fraud and he took a step aside. Wauters remained chairman of the board of directors until the 90s.
